NCAA FCS FOOTBALL BRACKET
CHARLESTON, Ill. - While the bracket flashed on the screen with Eastern Illinois playing at William & Mary, the fact that ESPNews had a misprint on the screen was not heard by the Panther football team during a selection show viewing party Sunday afternoon. It was not until a few minutes later that the correction was noted and Eastern Illinois will be facing Southern Illinois for the third time in five years in the opening round of the FCS playoffs.
The Panthers earned their 13th trip to the FCS playoffs as the automatic bid from the Ohio Valley Conference. At 8-3 overall EIU is ranked No. 19 in the Sports Network final regular-season poll.
Southern Illinois will be making its seventh straight FCS playoff as the automatic bid from the Missouri Valley Football Conference. At 10-1 overall, SIU was ranked No. 1 by the Sports Network in the final regular-season poll.
Kickoff for the game will be at 1 p.m. at historic McAndrew Stadium which is in its last year as the home of Saluki Football. Tickets and travel packages will be announced on Monday morning at www.eiupanthers.com and go on sale starting at Noon through the EIU ticket office. Orders can be placed via phone at (217) 581-2106 or in person at the Lantz Arena ticket office.
This will be the 60th meeting between the two in-state schools and third in the last five years in the FCS playoffs. SIU holds a 36-22-1 all-time series lead including wins in the 2005 and 2007 NCAA FCS playoffs. The two schools will begin a home-and-home series in 2011 and 2012.
The winner of the first round game will face the winner of the William & Mary vs. Weber State contest. SIU is the No. 3 seed in the field while Montana earned the No. 1 overall seed. Villanova was the No. 2 seed with defending national champion Richmond the No. 4 seed. In the current format only the top four teams are seeded while all others are placed in contests with geographic proximity.
The Panthers have been to the FCS playoffs in 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 with their 13 FCS playoff appearances ranking 9th among all FCS programs. EIU has advanced to the quarterfinal round on three occasions most recently in 1989.
EIU is 1-3 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the poll. The lone win for EIU over a team ranked No. 1 came on Nov. 7, 1992 with a 21-15 win over then No. 1 Northern Iowa. EIU has lost to Montana, Marshall and Indiana State when they were all ranked No. 1.
